ACS Germany organised a customised Airbus A340 to take DJs to the Frankfurt Big City Beats' World Club Dome event

ACS inundated with World Cup requests

As the World Cup arrives in Russia for the first time the enormity of the logistical challenge is becoming apparent. Air Charter Service has been seeing record demand for aircraft charters ahead of the big kick-off in June.

Group director of the commercial jets division Matthew Purton says: "Russia is a huge country and this is the first tournament since the USA in 1994 where the stadiums involved span four different time zones. The distance between Nizhny Novgorod and Kaliningrad, where England play their last two group matches, is more than 1,000 miles and involves travelling across Belarus and Lithuania due to Kaliningrad's isolated location.

There could be more than three million spectators at the games. "Scheduled flights simply do not have the capacity to cope with the demand," he continues. "With only Russian registered airlines currently being allowed to perform domestic charter flights in the country, this drastically limits the choice of aircraft able to transport fans and teams to matches."

ACS has two offices in Russia, one in Moscow and one in St Petersburg, and it will be sending its own Russian speakers to some of the smaller airports to facilitate management of the detailed requirements for these flight programmes. "The fact that our two local offices are Russian companies and we have a Russian bank account is also a huge bonus as it will mean easier transactions than for companies using dollars, euros or sterling," Purton concludes.

ACS Germany has outstanding 2017

The company's German office enjoyed 23 per cent growth in charter numbers last year and a 31 per cent increase in revenue; 2017 became its most successful year since it opened its doors in 2010.

ACS Germany MD Caroline Werf says: "The results represent an outstanding effort from our team over the last year. We now have 23 staff here in Frankfurt, increasing from just 14 this time last year."